What is Democratic Socialism?

Bernie Sanders, a socialist, has achieved quite a following in the race for the Democratic nomination for president. How many of his followers really know what he stands for?

There was a telling moment in the first Democratic presidential debate in which Anderson Cooper tried to pin him down. It took several tries but Cooper finally backed him into a corner when he said, “You don’t consider yourself a capitalist, though?”

Sander’s final answer to that simple question was, “No I don’t.”

Sanders calls himself a democratic socialist so what exactly is that?

A trip to the Democratic Socialist of America’s website, www.dsausa.org, will help put things in perspective. However, once there, you have to wade through a lot of verbiage to get to the bottom line:

Here are the essentials:

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the largest socialist organization in the United States, and the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International. (About DSA)

We are socialists because we reject an economic order based on private profit.(Constitution: Purpose)

We are activists committed to democracy as not simply one of our political values but our means of restructuring society. (About DSA)

So there you have it.

There are two basic economic systems at work in the world today: (1) The free market (private enterprise) better known as capitalism and (2) socialism.

In the free market or capitalist system individuals own property. Indiduals also own the means of production and set the price for their goods and services.

In the socialist system everything is owned collectively by the government. The government also owns the means of production and controls the distribution.

The important questions for your to consider are these: In which of these two economic systems are the people free? And, are you really willing to give up your freedom for free stuff?

There are two ways a capitalism system becomes a socialist or communist system:

By revolution

It simply creeps in over time.

This famous quote by Alexander Fraser Tytler sums it up:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.”

In reality, it is hard to find a pure capitalist or socialist system in the world today. Most capitalist systems have at least some socialist programs and socialism often gives way to communism or a dictatorship. The average life of a democracy is about 200 years.

Our founding fathers wisely put the power in the hands of the people, where the government had very little control. Over the years, that has changed.

You have to hand it to Sanders. He is more honest than most of his Democratic counterparts. He wants to dismantle our capitalism system, not by a revolution, but gradually through the ballot box: thus the term “democratic socialism.”

During the debate, Hillary Clinton offered these weak statements in defense of capitalism: “I don’t think we should confuse what we have to do every so often in America, which is save capitalism from itself…And it’s our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so that it doesn’t run amok and doesn’t cause the kind of inequities we’re seeing in our economic system.”

The political arm of the DSAUSA is the congressional Progressive Caucus. Until 1999, it was an official part of the DSAUSA with Nancy Pelosi listed as a prominent member of the executive committee. However, once it was exposed, it disappeared from dsausa.org and reappeared (minus Pelosi who became Speaker of the House from 2007 to 2011) as an official arm of the House Democrat caucus. Presently, besides Senator Sanders, there are 69 other declared progressive (socialist) democrats, all in the House of Representatives, all in safe seats.

Don’t underestimate their collective power. When Democrats last controlled the House, of the 20 standing committees, 10 of the most important were chaired by these progressives.

Make no mistake: Democracy and socialism cannot be combined. It’s like trying to mix oil and water. Socialists believe that man can be perfected. Therefore, an all powerful government must be established until man no longer is capable of evil and utopia is reached.

A democracy is based on the idea that we are created equal but imperfect. Perfection is the business of God. Therefore, this country has laws, checks and balances to protect us from each other and the government.

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7 thoughts on “What is Democratic Socialism?”

Supposedly Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting a different outcome. Apparently, leftists fit this definition, for their mantra seems to be “This isn’t working…so let’s keep doing it.”
I suppose that many of them like to pretend that the only alternatives are either collectivism or monopolistic crony capitalism (the system the US has now, courtesy, in large part, of the leftists). But, throughout the years, a true free market system has always provided the greatest prosperity.
But you cannot tell that to the average Demoncrap. As I have said more than once, leftists (and Muslims) know no facts, are incapable of logic, and hate and fear the truth.

Yes exactly Jane. The Hillsdale course Constituiin 101 which I recommend all people to take (it’s free) provides a basic and fundamental understanding of this as well. The government is suspose to protect The Constituion however we, the people, are voting for government benefits versus for government to protect our rights in the Constitution. Unfortunately people don’t listen to the consequences until they’ve experienced them, we can only hope that more people seek education before making decisions to vote and the older generation is willing to invest and be patient to teach the younger generation in a way that they will receive it… We must get creative and innovative in our ways to reach the younger generation to teach the principles in the Constitution. Otherwise we’re headed straight for socialistic country more than we already are.

Sanders, his followers and ilk, could learn, with the slightest pursuit of study, that both the Plymouth and Virginia original settlements started as socialist enterprises and failed miserably their first year. with this disastrous beginning, the settlers converted to a system of private ownership and reward for private effort. Captain John Smith wrote about the communal effect on individual effort, “…glad was he that could slip from the labor…the most honest among them would take so much true pains in a week, as now for themselves they will do in a day.” Page 296 of Stan Evans’ book, The Theme is Freedom (if you are so fortunate to own or have access to a copy).